


5 Times Cisco Ramon Told People He Was Metahuman (And 1 Time He Showed Them)

by bettername2come



Category: Arrow (TV 2012), The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Family, Friendship, Gen, Secrets Revealed, Superpowers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-25
Updated: 2015-06-05
Packaged: 2018-04-01 06:29:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 4,039
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4009405
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bettername2come/pseuds/bettername2come
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Eobard Thawne told Cisco he was a metahuman. Now, Cisco's kind of freaking out and seeking advice from his family and friends.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Dante

**Author's Note:**

> I'm pretty sure my version of Dante is nicer than the series' version. Also, Dante totally knows about The Flash and metahumans in the Pipeline (per my other story Brotherly Bonding and the Chronicles of Cisco Tumblr).

So maybe the Ramons weren't the closest knit family on earth, but there was something about having a wormhole almost destroy the world while one of your best friends lost his mom (again) that made Cisco want to see them. Maybe. Just for a minute. 

By the time he reached the front door to his parents’ house, he was already making excuses for a quick getaway. He knocks on the door and a moment later, Dante appears, still wearing his work uniform from the music store. Because if you can’t get world famous from playing the piano, you might as well get commission from selling them. 

“Hey, bro. What’s up?” 

“Just in the neighborhood, thought I’d stop by. Are Mom and Dad home?” 

“You just missed them. They went out to dinner. Come on in.” 

Cisco is ready to break out one of the fourteen excuses he had for a quick getaway, but something changes his mind and a moment later he finds himself in the kitchen, taking a beer from his brother and sitting in awkward silence. 

“Ok, what’s really going on here?” 

“Nothing. I told you, I was just in the neighborhood.” 

“You avoid the neighborhood like the plague. What’s really going on? Does this have anything to do with the giant hole in the sky a few days ago that The Flash closed?” Right, that part’s not exactly a secret. It’s making international headlines and destroying whatever trust had been rebuilt between S.T.A.R Labs and the rest of Central City. So Cisco fills Dante in on the rest, including his conversation with Dr. Wells. 

“Your boss _killed you_?” Dante asks, shock and disbelief and just hint of overprotective big brother anger in his voice. 

Cisco holds up his hand. “Relax. He got deleted from existence. He can’t try it again. But the point is…it didn’t actually happen to me. I’m not supposed to remember it.” 

“So, how can you?” 

“The particle accelerator. He said it affected me too. That I can, ‘see through the vibrations of the universe,’ whatever that means.” 

_Don’t be afraid, Cisco. A great and honorable destiny awaits you now._

Don’t be afraid, he said. I’m sorry, he said. So, which is it? Because the guy who claimed to have no remorse over killing Cisco saying he’s sorry for giving him these powers is probably scarier than any other part of this. 

“So you, what, have powers now?” 

“I guess? Although, memories of alternate timelines seems like a pretty lameass superpower compared to some of the ones I’ve seen.” 

“Sounds less creepy than shapeshifter guy.” 

“Should I be freaking out over this? Like ninety percent of the metahumans I’ve met have tried to kill me or my friends. That’s an excessively high percentage. It doesn’t really sound like a club I want to join.” 

“Yeah, but this happened like a year and a half ago, and you haven’t tried to kill anyone yet. I mean, I think if you were going to be a supervillain, you would’ve already gone the mad scientist route and built some kind of Bond villain death ray.” 

“Well, I’ve never done _that_. Built a time machine last week, though.” 

“Did it work?” 

“Didn’t get to try it. Barry broke it.” 

“My advice? Don’t freak out about this yet. But your friends need to know. They are much more prepared to handle this weird crap.” 

“Just another Tuesday in Central City.” 

“But if you find out about an alternate universe where I’m a concert pianist who doesn’t live with his parents and supervillains haven’t tried to freeze my hands off, I want to hear about it.”


	2. Caitlin

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cisco tells Caitlin. Oh, FYI, all these are taking place as though the person he's talking to is the only one he's told, rather than being sequential.

Telling Caitlin makes sense. She’s his best friend. He tells her everything. Not to mention, with Wells/Thawne out of existence, she’s the world’s leading medical expert on metahumans. It should be easy.

It’s not easy. 

The timing is just awful. She should be on her honeymoon, but with everything that’s been going on, and having to get her husband legally resurrected (which Oliver claims is a surprisingly quick progress, but apparently that’s only true if you have money and influence), she hasn’t been able to. So Caitlin’s here at S.T.A.R Labs, trying to make plans for a trip to Tahiti, and sorting through legal documents, while Cisco tries unsuccessfully to hack into Wells’ computer for the thousandth time to see if there’s any other information he might have left about the future. More specifically about Cisco’s future, which he obviously knew something about. Because why else would he say Cisco had an “honorable destiny” if he didn’t know what it was? 

And because they’re both so busy, it takes Caitlin almost two hours to realize just how unnaturally quiet Cisco’s being. 

“All right, what is wrong with you?” 

“What? Nothing,” Cisco says just a little too quickly. 

“You haven’t said a word in over an hour, and I’ve been sitting here complaining about trying to book a flight for a legally dead man and not once have you made the ‘Just let Ronnie fly you to Tahiti’ joke. What’s wrong?” 

“You know how we were trying to figure out why I could remember stuff from the alternate timeline?” 

“Yeah?” 

“Wells told me. So quick question, is it going to be weird for you to be the only woman _and_ the only non-metahuman working here, or is Iris helping out with the crimefighting gonna fulfill the quota on both counts?” 

“Wait, what?” 

“Apparently, it’s a power.” 

She shakes her head. “No, no way. We would’ve realized it before.” 

“Would we? It’s not like we could have seen this coming before Barry made a skewed timeline.” 

“But…but you closed the doors. Nothing was supposed to get through there. The blast went up instead of out. It didn’t hit you.” Caitlin sounds a little panicked, and Cisco is suddenly reminded that she was standing right next to those doors when the accelerator blew. Does that mean that she-? 

No, no. Caitlin’s fine. Caitlin’s normal. She has to be. One of them has to be. 

_Your lives are so much better because of me._

_I’m sorry…I wasn’t sure until just now._

“Wells didn’t think it had. But he was wrong. Wells said our lives were better because of him. What if this is what he was talking about? What if in his timeline I ended evil or dangerous or, I don’t know, crazy?” 

Caitlin forces a smile. “I guess if that were true, you’d find out about it eventually, right? I mean, you can’t exactly keep secrets about another timeline from the guy who sees into them.” 

Cisco nods, but doesn’t look her in the eye. 

Caitlin reaches lays a hand on his shoulder. “Hey, you’re going to be okay. We’ll figure this out. Together. Like we always do.” She smiles and this time it doesn’t seem so forced. 

Cisco smiles back. “Yes. We will. As soon as you get back from your honeymoon, which I believe is about a year overdue.” 

“Well, of course, I’m going on my honeymoon first.” She turns back to her computer. “That is if I can convince the government I haven't married a dead man." 

“You could always call Felicity and just have her work some of that hacker magic to speed it up. Or you know, if speed’s the issue, you could just have Barry run you both across the Pacific Ocean. Save a little cash.” 

Caitlin glances at Cisco out of the corner of her eye, her expression halfway between annoyance and amusement. “Yeah, pretty sure you haven’t changed a bit.”


	3. Ronnie

There are too many opening lines to pick from. “Hey, guess who else Dr. Wells screwed over and might also have trouble telling multiple lives apart in his head?” is currently in the lead. Because if there’s anyone who can understand that fear, that sense of losing who you are, it’s Ronnie. Ronnie, who’s back and himself and alive and finally getting everything he wants and deserves.

In the end, when Cisco tells him, it isn’t even on purpose. 

“Wells is a dick.” Was a dick. Whatever. It’s still true. 

Ronnie startles for a moment, then returns to work on the machine in front of him. “Pretty sure we’ve established that.” 

“Do you think he knew? When you went into the accelerator, do you think he knew what really happened? That you weren’t dead?” 

“Maybe. Probably. I don’t know. He didn’t make an effort to find me if he did. Which doesn’t seem like him, you know? Leaving loose ends untied.” Ronnie sighs. “It doesn’t matter, does it? He never really cared if we lived or died, did he? All of this,” he gestures to the walls surrounding them, “it was all about creating The Flash, about getting home.” 

_I never underestimated your contributions, Cisco. Or Ronnie._

_I hope that you remember who gave you that life. And that it was given out of love._

Cisco shakes his head. “I’m not so sure. I keep replaying everything in my head. All the conversations, all the time we spent together here, everyday, knowing he was sabotaging it, knowing we were helping him build something that would kill people. He knew what he was sending us into when we went down there. He knew what would happen to us. He had to.” 

It takes Ronnie a moment to process what Cisco said. “Us?” 

Crap. “Yeah. Apparently, I see alternate universes. Which is probably going to come in really handy in the long run, because Barry can, you know, make alternate universes, so we’re probably going to need someone to keep track of them, and how much worse can it get, right? I mean, the first AU I stumble into is the one where my heart gets shredded by someone I trusted. It’s all gotta be smooth sailing compared to that, right?” 

“Cisco?” 

“Yeah?” 

“Breathe.” 

“Okay.” 

“So, Wells told you you’re a meta.” 

“Yep. And he’s sorry. Wasn’t sorry for killing me, but _that_ he apologizes for.” 

“That’s messed up.” 

“I know, right?” 

“All right, but as messed up as it is, that’s how we won. Wells screwed up that day, because he gave you the power to know what he really was, and he gave Barry and me the power to kick his ass. We stopped him." ( _Eddie stopped him_ , Cisco thinks, but he doesn’t say.) "After that, everything else is going to be easy.” 

Cisco nodded. “Yeah, sure,” he said unconvincingly. 

“Hey, four months ago, I was living on the street eating garbage with no idea who I was, and now I’m married to the most beautiful woman on the planet and saving a lot of people with my friends. Two weeks ago a wormhole opened in the sky and we stopped it. There is nothing this team can’t handle, and that includes whatever happens with you, okay?” 

“Okay.” 

“C’mon. Let’s get out of here. We saved the world and we have yet to properly celebrate that. I vote pizza.” 

"Good, 'cause I need a freaking drink. Let's see if we can find both."


	4. Barry

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Barry's turn.

Barry Allen is pretty much the poster child for metahumans. Or he would be if they’d, like, unionize or something and he hadn’t sent most of them to the pipeline, albeit temporarily. He’s got this whole superhero thing down pat, thanks in no small part to the badass teamwork they’ve done. Who better to ask than the one meta who has never gone evil or crazy? Except for the one time, but that was Bivolo’s fault, not Barry’s. Barry’s the one good metahuman who actually _wants_ his powers, has always wanted them. And maybe that’s what Cisco needs to hear right now. Because it doesn’t look like they’ll be going away any time soon. Because the visions? They’re getting worse.

Cisco’s down in the bunker, replaying conversations in his head. Conversations that never happened, not to him, and conversations that did. Murders and lies and affirmations and advice, that happened between him and Wells ( _Thawne_ ), or between other versions of them. 

Cisco’s still sitting there staring at the trap, when Barry walks in. 

“Hey, man, I thought you’d left already. What are you still doing here?” 

“Just thinking. About Wells. Doesn’t exist anymore and he’s still screwing up our lives. Which is pretty impressive when you think about it.” 

“What do you mean?” 

“Those visions I was having? They haven’t stopped. And it’s not just the day you reset, it’s other timelines, other worlds, and Wells…Wells said I was affected that day too. He called it ‘a great and honorable destiny.’ And I just, I don’t know what to make of that.” 

Barry sits down next to Cisco. “Do you think he was telling the truth?” 

“I don’t know. He lied. He lied to us every day. But I don’t think he was lying about this. He sounded…genuine.” 

“That’s…that’s pretty cool, right? Seeing other universes, that's amazing.” 

“I don’t know. I don’t know what these powers are, how they’re going to change. Remember when you breaking the sound barrier was a big deal? And 6 months later you’re traveling through time.” 

“But we figured it out. And I’m okay. Just like you’re going to be. You can do this. You know you can. Think about all the stuff you’ve done this last year without powers. And now, there’s two of us.” 

“Three if you count Ronnie. Four if you count Stein. Do they count as one or two heroes?” 

“Pretty sure we should just go with Firestorm and count them as one.” Barry sighs. “Okay, what is it?” 

“What’s what?” 

“Your name. Your codename,” Barry says like it’s the most obvious thing in the world. “Don’t act like you haven’t thought about it.” 

“It’s a work in progress. I need to figure out what I can do before I come up with a name.” 

“But you are gonna have one?” 

“Oh, definitely. I’m just not there yet.” 

“Costume?” 

“Well, you can’t hero in a hoodie. I mean, Oliver can. And Roy. But you can’t _super_ hero in a hoodie. Plus, I wear them all the time, they’d make a terrible disguise.”


	5. Iris

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Iris is still brokenhearted following Eddie's death. Cisco uses his abilities to ease her through the pain.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter ended up having more "show" than "tell" like I had originally decided. But I think that's probably for the best.

It’s maybe a month after the wormhole, when Cisco sees Iris at Jitters, staring way too intensely into her cup of coffee. Cisco isn’t sure if he should just pretend he didn’t see her or ask her what’s wrong. They’re not exactly friends, not yet anyway; they’re still at opposite ends of the Team Flash spectrum, but Cisco isn’t the type to just walk away when he sees someone hurting, so he approaches her slowly, a warm smile on his face. 

“Hey.” 

She jumps a little at his voice but smiles back when she recognizes him. “Hi, Cisco.” 

He’s seen Iris when she’s in pain and trying to hide it. He saw it every day for almost nine months when Barry was in a coma. He knows that look. 

“How are you doing?” 

From anyone else the words would sound hollow, empty, but there’s concern in Cisco’s eyes that tells Iris he really wants to know. 

“This is where Eddie and I had our first date. And about a hundred more after it, but this is where it started. I’m moving out of my apartment this weekend. Did Barry tell you?” 

He had. He’d mentioned Iris getting a new place not far from Caitlin’s, but the full meaning of it hadn’t registered until just now. All the memories that must have surrounded her, how hard that must make it to move on, especially when so few knew the truth about what had happened to Eddie. To most of the department, to most of the world, his disappearance and presumed death was just a tragic accident. One of many that happened the day the wormhole opened above Central City. How few knew his death had actually caused it, knew about his heroic sacrifice. 

“Yeah, he mentioned it.” 

“Can’t move back in with Dad. Things are too awkward with Barry, so here I am, out on my own for the first time, and it’s not because I chose it, and the one person I would want to talk about this with isn’t here.” 

Iris West doesn’t do scared. She’s a strong, independent woman who’s punched supervillains in the face and shot bad guys before they could shoot her first. 

But this… grieving, moving on, growing up, doing it all on her own. It scares her. More than anything she’s scared for her future, because the more she sees of it, the more she thinks her destiny is totally not up to her because every choice she’s tried to make, every time she’s tried to choose her own fate, something has happened to spin it out of her control. First her mom, then the police academy, choosing Eddie instead of Barry, all of it has backfired. And maybe, just maybe if she and Eddie hadn’t gotten together he would still be here. 

_You are, Eddie. You are my hero._

_That's all I ever wanted to be. Your hero._

The tears start to fall. She’s basically talking to herself now, has almost forgotten Cisco’s there. “I just really miss him.” 

Cisco knows what it’s like to watch someone you love sacrifice himself, knows the guilt it can leave you with. And right now, he really wants to spare her some of that heartache if he can. 

And he’s pretty sure he can. 

It’s getting easier to use his powers, to tap into those vibrations of the universe. Especially into the timelines that aren’t that far from his own. 

And somewhere out there is another timeline. One where Eddie Thawne is okay, where he’s safe (well, as safe as any other cop in Central City), where he’s with Iris and he’s happy. 

It doesn’t take long for Cisco to zero in on it, to find that frequency, that world where a thousand different tiny choices led to a different ending. 

“Can I tell you a secret? Off the record?” 

Iris looks confused, but she nods anyway. 

“I just found out that I got powers the night of the particle accelerator explosion. I can see into alternate dimensions.” 

Iris’s eyes go wide before she manages to compose herself. “Why are you telling me this?” 

“Because I want to show you something.” Cisco holds out his hand. Iris stares at it for a moment before she places her palm in his. Cisco closes his eyes and a moment later images are tearing through Iris’s mind, too fast for her to fully comprehend. 

Her and Eddie. Smiling, laughing. Eddie and Joe, fighting crime. Eddie stopped in his tracks by that look her dad has. Iris in a white dress, Eddie in a tux, making their vows as Caitlin holds her bouquet just like Iris had once done for her. 

The images fade quickly and Iris pulls her hand back, tears streaming down her cheeks. 

“Did it work?” 

Iris nods slowly. 

“He didn’t die because he was with you, Iris. He died because here, in this world, in this time, that was what it took for him to stop Wells. And somewhere, in some other world, some other timeline he still exists. He still loves you.” 

“Thank you.” 

Cisco smiles. Iris hadn’t noticed before what a nice smile it is. “What are friends for?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had no intention of this chapter happening the way it did when I came up with this idea, but this is probably my favorite chapter yet. And I doubt Cisco's powers work like this in-universe, but whatever, I can back this idea up with stuff from the comic, even if I am stretching it.


	6. Team Flarrow

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> All right, last chapter. Wherein everyone finds out, and Hartley Rathaway gets knocked out.

Hartley Rathaway is in Starling City. Of course he is. All the supervillains end up there eventually, right? And since he’s _their_ supervillain, Team Flash follows him, even though Oliver and Laurel claim they’ve totally got this.

(Spoiler alert: They don’t got this.) 

And besides, it’s Cisco’s fault Hartley’s out in the first place. But whatever, they got Ronnie back, at least in part thanks to Hartley’s information, and that makes it worth it. Still, Cisco’s totally ready to kick his ass. More so when he learns that Hartley’s stealing from Palmer Technologies. Because A) you don’t mess with Cisco’s friends. Even if they are presumed dead. Or maybe that’s _especially_ if they’re presumed dead. (But seriously, though, no body found? Cisco’s been here before and he knows what that probably means). B) He spent a lot of time helping Ray perfect that tech, so, it’s kind of like Hartley’s stealing from him too. C) Okay, dude was villainous enough the last time. He _does not_ need extra weaponry. Much less when they have no idea what he’s gathering them for. 

Cisco’s able to track him by tracing the frequency from his hearing aids. Rathaway’s holed up in one of the many abandoned buildings in the Glades. He’s clearly prepared for their arrival, because Barry can’t even get through the door. Hartley still has Barry’s frequency, and he’s sending the sound out over speakers that are hidden, so they can’t find a way to shut them down. 

They don’t have a choice. The Flash is out of this fight. Thea gets him in a van and drives him back to the Arrowcave (and Cisco doesn’t care if Oliver’s technically not the Arrow anymore, he’s still calling it that). So the other heroes go in, guns blazing (and arrows and nightsticks and Canary Cry blazing), while Felicity and Cisco work their tech magic to try to bring down Hartley’s weapons. But it’s not working, not fast enough. 

Suddenly the Canary Cry goes silent as Laurel covers her ears, rolling on the ground in agony. Oliver and Diggle rush forward to help her, but end up on the floor next to her. And Hartley’s smirking back and saying something that Cisco can’t hear, but he’s sure it’s taunting and dickish. 

Whatever Hartley’s saying, he doesn’t get a chance to finish it, because a second later a huge sonic wave blasts into him, knocking him off his feet and into the wall behind him. 

And Cisco’s standing there with his hand outstretched as his expression fades from anger to awestruck joy. 

“Hell yeah! I’ve been waiting three years to do that! Who’s mastered the sound waves now, Hartley? Huh? What do you have to say to that?” Cisco takes a few steps forward as he speaks, and then stops short. “Oh. Probably not much. ‘Cause your unconscious.” 

And everyone is staring at Cisco with varying degrees of shock, from Laurel, who looks impressed, to Diggle, whose eyes are about to pop out of his head. 

There’s a quick beeping noise as Felicity finally shuts down the power. She marches over to check on Oliver and Diggle, while Laurel rises to her feet a little quicker than she should have, judging by the way she sways as she does. “Okay, am I the only one who didn’t know about this?” 

“No. No, you’re not,” replies Caitlin, and there’s a clear _we are so gonna talk about this when we get home_ tone to her voice that makes Cisco nervous. But she’s distracted, checking Hartley for a pulse, and Cisco’s relieved to know he won’t have to face the worst of her wrath until later. 

“Please tell me that was a weapon we couldn’t see,” Diggle says wearily. 

“No, that was, uh, that was me.” And everyone’s staring now, confused and waiting for an explanation. “I found out a little while ago, not about this, about a different power and I was going to tell you, but I was trying to figure out how and then I realized I could do this, but then Hartley showed up, and I knew it was going to be hard to sneak weapons past him, and I figured he’d be listening in, so I _couldn’t_ tell you, and you can’t be mad because I totally saved the day.” 

Diggle shakes his head, because of the babbling or the shock of more metahuman weirdness, Cisco doesn’t know. “I’m gonna call Lance for pickup. We better clear out.” 

Barry’s voice comes over their headsets. “Guys, what happened? Did we win?” 

Oliver replies first. “Yeah. Cisco got him.” 

“Cisco?” 

Oliver sighs. “Yeah. You two need to talk.” Oliver clicks the headset off before Barry can ask what the hell he's talking about. 

Oliver claps Cisco on the shoulder as he walks by. “Nice work.” 

Cisco smiles. Hell yeah.


End file.
